The Breakup Vacation by Anna Garcia is a romance set in Cancun. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. The biggest issue I had was that I did not like the characters, especially the main character. I cannot love a book if I don't like or can't connect with the characters. I found the main character to be extremely frustrating to read which made it hard to see other good things about the book. I did not connect with the romance in this book either because the characters had no personality. The beach setting was fun but that's about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review!

This book was all kinds of MTV Spring Break messiness and I loved it. Grace makes poor decisions post-break up (can we call it a break up) with Josh who didn't want to commit in the first place. And you may wonder why Grace would persuade her friends to take a trip to Cancun, withholding the fact that Josh would be there too. But Grace is hung up on him because she thought what she experienced is love. And maybe it takes a super hot and thoughtful vacation fling to experience something better. Something more worthy of her time.

The Breakup Vacation depicts a wild time between a close group of friends and the mistakes one makes in their 20s, experiencing the ups and downs of relationships for the first time.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Reading the synopsis back now, I’m not sure why I thought I would enjoy this book. When Grace is unexpectedly dumped, her friends plan a trip and Grace agrees because she knows her ex, Josh, will be there too. Grace becomes a not so low key stalker but she also keeps running into an actually worthwhile guy, Daniel. Almost no one in this story is likable and they seem really immature. Grace calls herself a feminist but she struggles with A LOT of internalized misogyny. I am just not the target audience of this book and I’m honestly not sure who would be.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of the book. I was really excited for the premise of the book. It just wasn't feeling the characters or the story.

Unfortunately couldn’t finish this book. The characters were annoying, verging on unlikeable. But worse there was no clear plot making it impossible to want to keep reading.

Unfortunately this one does not live up to the cute cover. I DNF’d at 15%. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and it was tedious to read.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Breakup Vacation was not for me. I definitely requested it because the description said it would be like Forgetting Sarah Marshall but I found her friends to be so flat and annoying that I couldn’t make myself finish the book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a fun romance novel with serious moments too. I like the female friendships and this was a joy to read!

I really love a good rom-com and especially a summer read, but this is definitely not it for me. The characters were very immature and not people I would ever want to know or read about. The excessive drinking was also icky. If none of that stuff bothers you maybe you'll like this one.

2.5 stars

This book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t like any of the characters, which is probably in large part that there was little character development. I found the main character to be annoying and not relatable at all. I was excited to read this when I was down in Mexico, but there honestly wasn’t a “beachy” feel to it so I was bummed about that. The characters are all fairly immature. This definitely reads more like high school characters to me rather than seniors in college. The only thing that would classify this book as being out of the YA genre is the spice. And tbh, I didn’t enjoy the spice, though I think that is one reason I was able to keep going through the book is because at least there was still spice, even if I didn’t think it was that great. I also found the book to be a bit too political for me and what I enjoy to read.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

This troupe did not appeal to me. I am just not the age demographic I think the book is appealing to. I have a daughter about to go into college so I try to stay away from that age group. Head in the sand and all that. I loved the premise and things it would be a lot fun for a different age range.

This is a perfect summer read centering on Grace, the main character in her early twenties as she navigates friendships and relationships. Grace takes a girl's trip to Cancun in an effort to win back her ex who is also vacationing there. Along the way, she meets another man she likes

Grace is a theater major whose boyfriend, Josh, broke up with her but still kept sleeping with her. Her friends, Tiff and Camille, suggest they go away to help her get over him. She cons them into going to Cancun where Josh is working on a film with the father of Grace's acting nemesis. Dangerously heavy drinking ensues, and she meets a hot guy who treats her like a human instead of a toy. She has to figure out who she wants to be with.

Trigger warnings: EXCESSIVE alcohol use, physical abuse (friends), emotional abuse (her ex). Possibly sexual abuse (unprotected sex even after three ex broke up with her).

Guys. I... I really want to be supportive. It's hard to write a book. I've never managed to make something worth publishing. But. Well. This is awful. Ms Gracia, I'm sorry.

Not one character has depth. Not one learns anything they shouldn't already know. Grace learns that you don't have to let someone continue having sex with you if you're not feeling it. Oof.

These characters split at least a full bottle of tequila before going out every night, and then have several more shots or drinks while out clubbing each night in the book. That's like 4-6 shots each BEFORE going out. What.

Grace is vain and self-centered, only focused on her own wants and how to make them happen. Tiff is a rich girl who somehow knows math and history things. (Not smart otherwise, though.) Camille (pronounced Ka-ME, apparently?) is French (through an American's eyes). That's it, that's her whole personality. Josh is college bro. And the hot dude, Daniel, is a soccer player and generous in bed. That's the sum total of things we learn about any of them.

There is no growth for anyone. They should have all had alcohol poisoning repeatedly. Josh was not worth Grace's energy. Grace was not worth Daniel's energy. Tiff literally punched her friends in the boobs constantly, which... effing OW. Why is THAT a thing that the author chose to be a THING for one of her characters to do?

I did actually finish this, and I wish I didn't. This feels like it's written to be a bad porn movie rather than an actual book to be read, considering the amount of gratuitous activity included in this book. I truly wasted my time on this book because there was nothing fun or redeeming about it. It didn't even end nicely. It just... ended. Though that was a relief...

The idea for the novel is good. In the hands of someone more thoughtful, I think it might have been really good. This was not.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

I was so excited for this book. It sounded really good and funny but unfortunately it just let me down. Grace was not a compelling character and I found myself annoyed with her most of the time. And the writing left something to be desired for me.

This book wasn’t too bad. There were funny parts, and I enjoyed the last few chapters a LOT! However, I feel like some of the diversity was kind of shoe-horned in there almost? That, and I was SO MAD at Grace for like 80% of the book.

Grace’s character development didn’t feel like it happened until the last 25% of the book in my opinion. I would have liked to see her change a bit more throughout the earlier chapters as well as the tail end; not just through the climax and ending of the book.

Overall, it wasn’t too bad. However, this isn’t really my cup of tea. I’m sure there are people out there who would love it though! I’m just not one of those people who fell in love with the book.

Thank you to netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, MTV Books for an arc in exchange for an honest opinion. I wanted to enjoy this book but it was just a no for me.

The Breakup Vacation, by Anna Gracia, is a mediocre romance novel with characters that are hard to connect with or just dislikeable.  A girl gets dumped and deceives a rich friend into taking her on a vacation so she can stalk her ex, and in the meantime, she gets distracted by someone else. She can't decide... Just a bit too silly for me. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook to read for this review. My opinions are all my own.

Bad breakup leads to bad book. Not sure why I requested this and could hardly finish. Maybe others will enjoy.

I wanted to DNF this book. Unfortunately, it was a NetGalley ARC, so i finished it, because i don't want to give it the power of bringing down my % of reviewed books.

No characters in this book felt developed, and several of them felt pretty problematic so i didn't even want more development for them. It's instalove, which i always forget is my actual least favorite trope (see, second-chance romance? you aren't as bad as i make you out to be!)--and it's apparently even worse if i actually don't like the characters at all.

The book was relatively short so i guess that's good? And it didn't really drag? Those facts are probably what brought it up to 2 stars for me.

This is obviously an unbiased review despite being an ARC.

This book was a struggle to get through. I didn't particularly like or enjoy the characters, but did enjoy the messages in the story. Women empowerment and the struggle to fit in and find acceptance.